Appointment Challenged in AFT Tribunal

The Indian Navy is the naval branch of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Navy. The Chief of Naval Staff, a four-star admiral, commands the Navy. The Chief of the Naval Staff is the commander and the highest-ranking officer in the Indian Navy. The position is abbreviated CNS in Indian Navy cables and communication, and usually held by a four star officer in the rank of admiral.

Appointment Challenged in AFT Tribunal

PROCEDURE OF APPOINTMENT

Indian army, Indian Air Force and Indian Navy chief are appointed by president of Indian with suggestion of Defense Minister other top officials of MoD and NSA and PM. The selection of these posts is done by the President of India. The final recommendation is done by the committee chaired by the Prime Minister. In reality these people are actually appointed by the Prime Minister only. These People are first shortlisted on the basis of various eligible people available .Then these shortlisted people are vetted by the Intelligence Bureau and the intelligence Bureau gives its confidential report to the PMO and MHA. Accordingly the names are selected after deliberations keeping in the mind the seniority and experience.

RECENT DISPUTED CASE

Vice Admiral Bimal Verma, the top Navy officer superseded by the government to appoint his junior Vice Admiral Karambir Singh as the next Navy chief, has petitioned the Armed Forces Tribunal against the order.

The senior Navy officer, who heads the Andaman and Nicobar Command in Port Blair, will be represented by his daughter Rhea Verma, a Delhi-based lawyer. The 28 year-old is an alumnus of India Law Society’s Law College in Pune.

The tribunal is expected to hear the plea soon, people familiar with this matter said.

Senior Navy officials declined comment on the matter.

Vice Admiral Bimal Verma, would have been the senior-most officer in the Navy when Navy chief Admiral Sunil Lamba retires. But the government last month decided against appointing him and opted for Vice Admiral Karambir Singh, the second senior-most officer. Singh currently heads the Visakhapatnam-based Eastern Naval Command.

The people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified, said that in the petition, Verma has sought to know the criteria followed to make such top appointments and also demanded that Singh’s appointment be quashed.

They added that Verma has raised questions about the decision-making process and also wants the tribunal to determine whether seniority should play a role in the appointment of the Navy chief.

“While the government has set out it’s revised promotion policy where seniority has not been the key determining factor, an individual officer is well within his rights to seek legal recourse,” said military affairs expert and former army vice chief Lieutenant General AS Lamba (retd.)

Lamba said this was perhaps the first time that a three star officer had staked claim for the chief’s post. Bimal Verma was principal director of naval operations when the 2005 Navy War Room leak case reported.

Dial 99888-17966 for more info. This post is written by Dipti Prakash of Punjab University.